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“Just as America is a military superpower so because of the brilliant things that Britain is doing in the poorest places in the world, saving lives.”

A report from MPs on the Commons international development committee published on Tuesday is expected to be critical of Britain for giving money to India.

In a television interview, Mr Mitchell said that the Indian programme had been frozen “so for the first time this year since the war it is not Britain’s largest development programme”.

Mr Mitchell told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show that he did not think that the UK would continue to fund programmes in India “for very much longer”.

He said: “India is a place where there are more poor people than the whole of sub-Saharan Africa, Britain’s programme is demonstrative it shows how we can get more people into school, and women particularly.

“These programmes are massively scaled up by the Indian taxpayer.

British know how is making a huge contribution – now is not the time to stop the programme in India but I don’t think we will be there for very much longer.”

The Government has been under fire for continuing to give 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product to the developing world, despite the domestic cuts programme.

Mr Mitchell said: “I think it was absolutely right of the Coalition to say in the early days that we would not balance the books on the poorest people in Britain or on the planet.

“We don't protect our security only by tanks and guns but also by training the police in Afghanistan, getting girls into school in the Horn of Africa and building up government structures in the Middle East.”

Mr Mitchell was speaking ahead of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (Gavi) conference in London on Monday.

The lives of more than four million children can be saved by a set of vaccines which cost the same as a cup of coffee, he said.

He said: “We had a look when we came into Government at all the different ways that Britain does development with British taxpayer funds and one of the very best was the Global Alliance of Vaccines and Immunisation, where effectively you can vaccinate a kid in the poor world for the price of a cup of coffee against all five of the killer diseases which mean so many of these children die before the age of five.”

Mr Mitchell said the Government would also match philanthropic donations by private individuals and companies.

He said that by Monday lunchtime he hoped to have “sufficient funding over the next four years to vaccinate 250,000 children in the poor world and save millions of lives”.

He added: “It’s really important. It’s Britain's big ask for development this year. We want to support it very strongly. We have a leadership role in all of this.”

Gavi is facing a shortfall of £2.3 billion for its work over the next five years, charities have warned. The conference is being chaired by David Cameron, the Prime Minister, and Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates.

Writing in The Observer newspaper, Mr Cameron said he was “convinced” it was right to protect the country’s aid budget.

He said: “I don't think it would be right to ignore the difference we can make, turn inwards solely to our own problems and effectively balance the books while breaking our promises to the world’s poorest.

“Instead, we should step up, deliver on our promises to the world's poorest and help save millions of lives.”

He added: “The British people are not prone to self-aggrandising. But I think there are times when we should acknowledge the good that we do.”

Mr Gates said Monday’s meeting would “very, very positive”, adding: “This is my life's work, and days like tomorrow energise us to do even better.”